The Huskies pounded St. John's in a game that may have been turning points for both teams
HARTFORD, Conn. — It was the kind of victory that can give a team ultimate belief, because it might be the definitive evidence, that it can win a national championship.
It was also the kind of loss that can kill a team's hopes and spirit for the remainder of the season.
What sixth-ranked Connecticut did to No. 15 St. John's at PeoplesBank Arena on Wednesday night was more than just a record-setting 32-point evisceration. It was an emphatic socking, the likes of which the Red Storm might not shake off the effects from for weeks, if not until next season. The Huskies' 72-40 vaporizing was arguably the most impressive game played by any team almost four months into this brilliant 2025-26 college basketball campaign.
"What we did today as a rebounding team, as a defensive team, as a team that looked like we did offensively at times in the championship years," Huskies coach Dan Hurley told CBS Sports outside the locker room. "Twenty assists, four turnovers, really, because we took a we took a turnover late in the game. Out-rebounded a team that kicks ass on the glass."
Ironically, it was all of a week ago when UConn fell 91-84 at home to mediocre Creighton to take its second loss in four games, bookending that with the 81-72 defeat against St. John's at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 6, when the Johnnies snapped the Huskies' 18-game winning streak.
"The defense has been a joke," Hurley said after that loss to Creighton. "Our defense has been so bad. We've been playing with fire."
On Wednesday, Hurley's Huskies tamed the flame and used it to burn out the will of St. John's — snapping its 13-game winning streak — and perhaps scorching its chances of doing something of significance over the next month. The Huskies suffocated the Red Storm by doing the near impossible, not allowing a made field goal from the 17:28 mark of the second half until the end of the game.
"This is a rivalry," Hurley told me, and it was obvious how much pride he felt to win so convincingly with all of the anticipation this game brought. "I've got a lot of respect for what they do and the amount of success they've had, particularly in Big East play. ... It was a must-win game today."
with EMPHASIS 😤 pic.twitter.com/Q7yvNZTex7— UConn Men's Basketball (@UConnMBB) February 26, 2026
UConn heating up for March as usual
UConn played like the program's existence depended on a victory. Credit to assistant Kimani Young, who was assigned the scout, and whose time to get a head-coaching job at the high-major level is overdue.
The Huskies set a program record for their largest win over St. John's, surpassing the 29-point mark from 1998. They also won a home game over a ranked team by 30-plus points for the first time in school history. The game felt near-over at halftime when it was 41-26. Then it felt violent in the final 10 minutes. It felt personal.
The UConn team looked — not a lot like — but pretty much exactly like the 2023 and 2024 title-winning squads. There's one eye-opening stat after another attached to this one.
The 32-point loss was the worst by St. John's as a ranked team since a 35-point loss to St. Bonaventure in 1960.
The Red Storm shot 19.6% on 11-of-56 shooting, the worst shooting performance by any team in Division I this season. It happened because St. John's made its first two field goals of the second half and then missed 24 in a row, also the worst streak by any team in college basketball.
SJU's best player, Zuby Ejiofor, was held to one point in the first half while his counterpart, senior big man Tarris Reed Jr., finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks and two steals in 31 minutes in what was the best game of his career.
"I've never been through that experience," Ejiofor said, later adding, "tonight was not what I was expecting at all."
Reed became the third Husky to ever log at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks against a ranked team, joining Donovan Clingan (twice) and Emeka Okafor (three times).
Loss might linger for St. John's
Adding to the embarrassment for Red Storm coach Rick Pitino, he coached a team to just 40 points, marking the lowest of a career that is 1,224 games deep. The previous low came when he was at Boston University in 1981 and his Terriers managed just 43 on the road against UCLA.
"Give [UConn] all the credit," Pitino said. "They played a great game. That's probably only happened to me two times in my career. ... So, it's all on me. I'm very disappointed in our performance offensively, especially sharing the ball, moving the ball. So, it's all on me, but we'll get ready for Villanova."
Although Pitino credited UConn and did own the loss, he did not handle himself well in the aftermath, which speaks to how much this result obviously and understandably burns him. Still, Pitino easily could have walked to the press conference room and taken questions for four or five minutes but opted not to — something that the Big East office will not appreciate — and instead gave one statement and took one question from a reporter, totaling less than 1 minute and 15 seconds after one of the two most important Big East games of the season.
"We're still playing for a championship," Pitino said. "It doesn't matter whether you lose by one or 40, the league championship's still at stake. Obviously, we got to make our corrections and move on."
The loss looks all the worse coming mere hours after this tweet from Pitino earlier on Wednesday.
